Essentials
Rural Ministry and the Future of Mission
- Written by: Mark Short
At the Anglican Future Conference Mark Short sought to turn assumptions about life in the bush on their head. Here’s how he went about it.
Mark Short is the National Director of Bush Church Aid Australia (BCA).
Earlier this year Monica and I were in the audience for the ‘When the Bush Comes to Town’ edition of Q and A. The makeshift studio was decorated with hay bales, there were a couple of bemused-looking alpacas greeting us as we walked into the venue and before the broadcast we were warmed up by a bloke with a guitar singing 80’s rock covers with a generic country twang. Clearly the producers had their own assumptions about what life in the bush looks and sounds like!
In mission our unspoken and untested assumptions are generally the most misleading. When the AFC organisers kindly invited me to share at the conference I was given the title ‘The Future of Rural Ministry’. I asked if I could change it ‘Rural Ministry and the Future of Mission.’ The change is subtle but significant. We often assume that the bush is sheltered, at least for a time, from the cultural and technological changes sweeping through the rest of western culture. It can even be comforting to imagine that somewhere over the ranges there is a rustic backwater where life is simpler. If we want to understand the challenges facing the church in the west we are told to look to our big cities, because as goes the city, so goes the culture.
I’m going to turn that assumption on its head, for two reasons. Firstly, in an era of rapid globalisation there really are no backwaters. The modern farmer who follows the weather on the Bureau of Meteorology website, who makes decisions based on movements in the Chicago futures market and who downloads GPS data before sowing is under no illusion that the reach of capitalism and technology stops at the farm gate. Secondly, there is what you might call the ‘localised diversity’ of the bush. The Australian bush is every bit as diverse as our cities but the different aspects of that diversity are often concentrated in particular geographical locations. Let me unpack that final point by describing five different types of rural communities we encounter at BCA and how each one highlights a pressing missional challenge for all of us.
Mining communities and the challenge of fluidity
If I were to ask what are the main features of our big cities I reckon you’d come up with a list that included mobility, cultural diversity, a young age profile and a blurring of the boundaries between home and work. I’ve chosen the label fluidity to sum up those trends — everything and everyone seems to be on the move. Then let me tell you about places in Australia that are even more fluid than our big cities. It’s not unusual for a BCA minister in one of our mining towns to farewell half of their congregation each year. And that congregation will be young and culturally diverse — when I visited the church at Newman there were something like 20 nationalities in a congregation of 60. Members of that congregation will be engaged in a variety of working arrangements — not only FIFO, where the mine worker leaves home in the city to relocate to a mining camp for up to two weeks at a time, but the emerging pattern of reverse FIFO where a worker sets up home in the mining town and flies to the city every couple of weeks to catch up with his wife and family.
Our Anglican parish structures originally developed in a settled world, where people were born, lived, work and died within a few square kilometres around which we placed discrete parish boundaries. But that is not our world and it is certainly not the world of our brothers and sisters in mining communities. We have much to learn with them and from them as they adopt a generous kingdom perspective that equips Christians for ministry wherever life and work might take them.
Farming communities and the challenge of faithful innovation
For many of our farming communities the challenges are different. Their populations are older and less mobile. Declining terms of trade and increases in productivity mean that many of them are experiencing steady declines in population as young adults have to re-locate to larger centres for education and/or work. Here the great challenge is both to tend inherited structures of ministry and mission while also developing new expressions to engage those not yet Christian. You could call this the challenge of faithful innovation — recognising the good in the old so it becomes the inspiration for the best of the new. By God’s grace, we have seen this happen in some of our BCA locations both through the renewal of existing ministries and the establishment of new ones. Of course this is a challenge for many of us regardless of where we live and so once again we have much to learn with and from one another.
Regional communities and the challenge of networking for growth
Larger regional centres like Bendigo, Ballarat, Wagga Wagga, Tamworth, Toowoomba, Mt Gambier and Geraldton are often called sponge communities because they have a tendency to soak up resources and people from their surrounding districts. They become the places people must go to for health care and shopping and to deal with banks and government departments. The great challenge for ministry and mission in these regional centres is to squeeze the sponge so that some of the resources and maybe even some of the people begin to flow outwards again.
What might that look like? It might look like a church in a regional city becoming a hub for the training and support of Christians in outlying towns. It might look like a regional university campus becoming a centre where young people are discipled and given a vision for servant-hearted ministry in the bush beyond graduation — as we’re seeing in BCA-supported ministry at Launceston. It might look like Christians dispersed across a wide area engaging and learning through online technology. In a world where people wish to connect through networks rather than serve under hierarchies we have much to learn with and from the bush.
Lifestyle communities and the challenge of scepticism
We live in an age of increased scepticism and even hostility toward the Christian faith, but we often assume that the bush is somehow immune from those trends as if closeness to creation gives you a head start in knowing the creator. But the reality is that many rural communities, and particularly those with a high lifestyle component, are notable for their high level of scepticism towards what they see as organised religion. Locations like Maleny in Queensland, Nimbin and Byron Bay in New South Wales, Daylesford and Castlemaine in Victoria, Kangaroo Island in South Australia and Denmark in Western Australia have the same mixture of aggressive secularism and diffuse spirituality you might associate with inner city Sydney or Melbourne. At BCA we are learning to engage with these communities through friendship and courageous, clear and creative gospel proclamation — there is much we can learn from each other.
Indigenous communities and the challenge of partnership
I find it fascinating that people often imagine that issues of justice for our Indigenous brothers and sisters are uniquely relevant in the bush, as if the land on which the AFC was held isn’t also colonised/invaded/stolen. Having said that, ministry in Indigenous communities in the bush does (or should) force us to engage with the issue of genuine partnership. How can we create sustainable pathways into leadership for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Christians so they are not burdened with almost crippling obligation and expectations? How can we move beyond paternalism and into a genuine partnership where ministry with and from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Christians is the norm rather than ministry to them? How can we engage the mixed record of our church in this area in a way that both acknowledges the past and does justice in the present? Surely these are vital challenges for all of us. At BCA we are beginning to learn what God is asking of us in response as we seek to support booth the current and the new generation of Indigenous Christian leaders. We would love you to learn with us as we learn from them.
Conclusion
You may have noticed that I’ve asked many questions and given few answers. For now I want us to sit with the questions and the challenges because it’s from here that I believe that we have our best opportunity to strengthen our partnership in the gospel. I would love to see a network develop around each of these questions, or adaptive challenges that I’ve outlined: a set of networks that are solidly grounded in God’s word; that reach across diocesan and cultural boundaries; that are committed to mutual learning and courageous experimentation under God; through which the city and the bush discover they have more in common than they might ever have imagined. Of course, the real challenges facing the church in the West are not organisational and neither are faithful responses. The key issue is profoundly theological — will we drive our foundations deep into the bedrock of God’s gracious sovereignty revealed in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus? The goodness, the power and the wisdom of God are to be found where our world least expects to see them — in a man condemned to death on a cross. Now, as then, God turns our assumptions on their head.
When Christians Differ
- Written by: Brian Rosner
At the Anglican Future Conference, Brian Rosner led a workshop called Disputable Matters: What to Do When Christians Disagree. This is a lightly edited outline of the content of his workshop.
Rev Dr Brian Rosner is Principal of Ridley College and President of EFAC Victoria.
Summary
With respect to disputable matters, in Romans 14-15 Paul stresses the need for personal convictions, flexibility, not judging or despising those who disagree, and the goal of peace and edification. As it turns out, the theological foundations of his teaching on disputable matters are remarkably profound.
Disputable matters in Romans 14:1-15:7
Some matters are beyond dispute, of “first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:1). Other matters are “disputable” (Romans 14:1)
1. Weak and Strong: Mosaic laws to do with diet (14:2, 21) and calendar (14:5).
Two groups are mentioned: ‘the weak’ and ‘the strong’. Whereas “the weak” in the church (probably mainly Christians from a Jewish background) kept Jewish kosher laws and observed the Sabbath, “the strong” (mainly Gentile Christians) did not. Paul actually counts himself among the strong (15:1) and is convinced that the Christian believer may “eat anything” (14:2). Peter Adam says: “If I had been writing Romans 14, I would have told those who were weak in faith, and still kept special days, to sort themselves out, and to know that they are justified by grace through faith, not by keeping special days of Jewish practice. Paul, on the other hand, told the strong in faith to accept the weak in faith, and the weak in faith to accept the strong in faith. Both the strong and the weak are answerable to God, not to each other. So we must allow people to act differently in matters that don’t contradict the gospel.”
2. How were the two groups behaving?
“The one who eats everything [the strong] must not despise [exoutheneō] the one who does not [the weak], and the one who does not eat everything [the weak] must not judge [krinō] the one who does [the strong], for God has accepted that person” (14:3). In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus also warns about judging and despising other believers. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matt. 7:1). In his application of the commandment not to murder, he states: “whoever says to his brother, ‘Fool!’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You moron!’ will be subject to hellfire” (Matt. 5:22, HCSB).
3. Paul’s instructions and his reasons
Paul’s basic instruction is to accept, rather than judge or despise one another: “Accept those whose faith is weak, without quarrelling over disputable matters” (14:1). “Accept one another, just as Christ has accepted you” (15:7). In response to Christians judging and despising each other, Paul reasons that each person is responsible directly to God, an accountability based on the status of all believers as belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ: “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall” (14:4a). Paul explains that personal convictions are needed, for “those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin” (14:23). “Everyone should be fully convinced in their own mind” (Romans 14:5b).
Christian leaders may teach a position on a disputable matter: “I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself” (14:14a), but not insistently: “Still to someone who considers a thing unclean, to that one it is unclean” (14:14b). In Paul’s view, at least in the case of the strong, some flexibility may be needed. Speaking to the strong, and including himself, Paul reasons that we may need to vary our practice in certain settings. We are not just “to please ourselves” (15:1). Rather, “each of us should please our neighbours for their good, to build them up” (15:2). In doing so we act in imitation of Christ, who “did not please himself” (15:3).
4. What was at stake?
Firstly, the health and happiness of the church: “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (14:17).
Secondly, the progress of the gospel. For Paul’s mission to succeed he needs the Roman Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, to accept one another, and not to squabble, so that with one mind and voice they might glorify God (15:6).
Thirdly, the glory of God. Paul’s ultimate purpose in dealing with the quarrels in the churches in Rome is not to ‘smooth things over’; it is that “the Gentiles might glorify God” (15.9; cf. 15.6, 7).
Conclusion
With respect to disputable matters, in Romans 14-15 Paul stresses the need for personal convictions, flexibility, not judging or despising those who disagree, and the goal of peace and edification. As it turns out, the theological foundations of his teaching on disputable matters are remarkably profound. Doctrine matters. Paul appeals to the lordship of Christ, the imitation of Christ, justification by faith, and the work of the Spirit in the Kingdom of God. To behave badly will damage the health and happiness of the church, impede the progress of the gospel and diminish the glory of God.
Editorial Spring 2015
- Written by: Dale Appleby
Bringing the Gospel to our World
Are we tempted to trust more in methods for gospel growth, than in the gospel itself?
The Anglican Futures Conference in Melbourne in March was a great time. Lots of people (465) from all states and New Zealand, excellent organisation, stimulating plenary sessions and a great variety of highly appreciated workshops. And finished with a financial surplus. The Conference touched on a number of important areas in our life as Anglican Christians and this issue of Essentials follows up more of those matters.
We have more summaries of some of the papers and discussions of other issues as well. Jude Long continues to give us some insights into Indigenous matters and Peter Brain critiques the significant General Synod Report of the Viability and Structures Task Force. (Peter has further material in Facing the Future: Bishops Imagine A Different Church Stephen Hale (Ed), Andrew Curnow (Ed) ISBN 9780908284900).
Plans, methods, schemes and models continue to proliferate in the attempt to bring the gospel to our world. Many of them represent ways in which God has blessed the work of his servants. However evangelicals know better than to trust in the repetition of things that worked somewhere else. What we ought to continue to trust in is the gospel itself and the Lord who continues to spontaneously expand his church, to use the words of Roland Allen.
Allen has wise words for a generation entrenched in method. “By spontaneous expansion I mean something which we cannot control. And if we cannot control it, we ought, as I think, to rejoice that we cannot control it. For if we cannot control it, it is because it is too great for us, not because it is too small for us. The great things of God are beyond our control. Therein lies a vast hope. Spontaneous expansion could fill the continents with the knowledge of Christ...” That was in 1927. It seems that he was right. A number of our book reviews highlight the same story.
In the face of competing stresses, opposition, and white-anting, evangelicals are under pressure to be ashamed of the gospel. But most evangelicals are unlikely to give it away. We are more likely to be tempted to trust in gospel methods than in the gospel.
Dale Appleby, Essentials Editor
Fellowship and Assistance
- Written by: Caitlin Hurley
Caitlin Hurley reflects on the challenge seen at the AFC of supporting fellow Anglicans
under pressure in changing dioceses.
Caitlin is assistant minister at Redfern and Green Square, NSW and Executive Assistant to the General Secretary of GAFCON.
The recent inaugural Anglican Future Conference was an action packed three days. A highlight for me was the Wednesday evening session Standing with the Global Anglican Community. Hosted by the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglican (GAFCON) General Secretary, Dr Peter Jensen shared how the Anglican Communion is faring around the globe. The prognosis was that is it not faring very well but that the GAFCON movement was providing a place for those committed to biblical Anglicanism to stand together and have both support and fellowship. A constant refrain from those who shared was that after leaving the their national church either forcibly or willingly their churches grew.
The most challenging portion of this evening was hearing from the New Zealand delegates about the Church in New Zealand. In New Zealand ordained clergy must submit to the authority of General Synod. This effectively means that if General Synod passes a motion the clergy are bound to that motion. Recently Motion 30 was passed by the General Synod. This motion has allowed for the creation of a working party to provide a process for and structure by which the blessings of same-sex relationships can occur within the church. The conference heard three different responses to motion 30 from leaders within the New Zealand church. These responses ranged from a desire to work through the process until it became untenable, to an inability to submit to this motion. As a result this rector lost his license, rectory and church building. How long will it be before evangelical Anglicans in Australia are faced with a similar situation?
This is where the work of GAFCON and FCA (Australia) are immensely important. This movement in its global and local manifestations seeks to uphold the authority of Scripture and the Lordship of Christ. In the Australian context this will be achieved through promoting orthodoxy and providing recognition, fellowship and assistance to those who have been disaffiliated from their diocese because of the unorthodox actions of others. It is true that a movement such as FCA (Australia) in and of itself is not going to bring people to salvation but it can help limit the damage of aggressive secularism and culturally conformed Christianity within the church. By providing support for those committed to biblical orthodoxy, parishes and their parishioners can get on with the work of the Great Commission.
It would be interesting to see the composition of the conference. In particular what was the ratio of clergy to laity? For the Fellowship of Confessing Anglican movement to flourish in both its global and local manifestations it needs to be supported by both clergy and laity. It would also be interesting to see the age demographics. As a movement focusing on the future it would be great to see some more individuals under the age of thirty-five involved. This will involve demonstrating to my generation why a movement such as FCA is important and worth supporting.
The AFC Debrief
- Written by: Ben Underwood
In the wash up from the Anglican Future Conference held in Melbourne and jointly hosted by EFAC Australia and The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Australia, Essentials quizzed conference maestros Stephen Hale and Richard Condie about how the conference went and what it means for the future.
Richard Condie is the Chair of the Anglican Future Conference and Vicar of St Jude’s Carlton, Vic.
Stephen Hale is Chair of EFAC Australia and is the lead minister of the St Hilary’s network in Kew and North Balwyn Vic.
Ess: What were your best hopes and worst fears for the Anglican Future Conference as it began?
SH: I hoped that it would be a significant national gathering that would offer hope and renewed commitment to mission and ministry in and through the Anglican Church. By God’s grace we got there! There was an inherent tension between the twin partners in making the Conference happen. EFAC is an evangelical fellowship while FCA is very new and is a broader group who have a more particular focus. Some people didn’t come because of that tension and others were anxious while there. I think we got the balance right and it was a remarkably unified and positive conference. The joint venture meant we had a genuinely national conference and with the presence of a good group of New Zealanders meant it was transnational.
RC: My best hopes were that a fire might be lit under our denomination to recover a great energy and passion for gospel ministry in our nation. I was reasonably confident that the speakers we had lined up, the topics we intended to cover, and the workshops we had planned, met quite a number of the issues we need to face as a Church. I hoped and prayed that we would be united around the gospel, and take seriously what we need to do to recover and stimulate gospel witness in the world.
My fear was that because GAFCON/FCA is seen by some to be divisive that we might not hear the Spirit’s voice through the conference, because we were worried about a hidden political agenda. I knew there was not a hidden political agenda, but I feared some may have thought that, and would not participate well as a result.
Ess: What were for you the best moments of the conference in the end?
SH: Ashley Null was a surprise and a delight. He opened up very familiar material in surprising and fresh ways. I’ve never really thought of Cranmer’s liturgies in the way that Ashley explained and it has given me a whole new way of approaching liturgy. Related to this was that we decided quite late in the picture to use liturgy in each of the worship sessions. Each seemed very apt and as with all good liturgy it was both participatory as well as a great way of expressing our unity together. The three plenary sessions were excellent and involved a diverse range of input. Kanishka exposed us to some tricky but helpful teaching from 2 Peter and did it in his usual clear and positive way.
As I said at the outset we don’t get together much because we are a large island nation. The best part was meeting new people and renewing connections that go back 30 or 40 years.
RC:When I saw that we had managed to bring together not just evangelical Anglicans, but people from all traditions and “unexpected” places, and that we had managed to get representation from every state and territory and New Zealand, I was really delighted. It said to me that there is a real hunger out there for direction, inspiration and encouragement. Then it was so good when the Bible was taught, and Ashley Null brought us back to our common roots, and we actually grappled with the big issues of culture.
Ess: Was there anything surprising or unexpected that came out of the conference?
SH:The overall unity was exceptional. In the past these sorts of conferences have often ended up in a dust up over something but that didn’t happen.
RC: I was personally bowled over by the strong response to the launch of the FCA. I have been so close to it for so long, and it was wonderful to have so many at the launch and sign up on the night. If you missed out – www.fca-aus.org.au
Ess: The conference was jointly hosted by EFAC and FCA. Where are these organisations overlapping in their aims and where distinct?
SH: EFAC is a fellowship of evangelical Anglican clergy and lay people. It generally is stronger where evangelicals are in a minority and therefore cherish the support and encouragement of gathering with like minded people. Generally EFAC is not involved in direct political action within the denomination yet it may also play a role in offering theological and biblical perspectives on issues of contention.
RC: FCA and EFAC are very close in many respects, in that both spring out of a clear view of the biblical gospel. I guess the aim of FCA is to gather orthodox Anglicans from a wider pool than just among evangelicals. In fact internationally, there may even be a majority of members who identify as “Anglo-catholic” rather than evangelical. FCA is designed to be a “broad tent” to gather people with a common concern for our denomination and its future.
Ess: Is FCA about helping dissaffected people leave Anglicanism?
RC:No, on the contrary, it is about helping them stay within the Anglican Church. One of the sad things that has happened internationally, is that faithful Anglicans who have not shifted in their commitment to Anglican theology and practice have been forced out by theological novelty and moral innovation which is foreign to historic Christian faith. FCA allows these people to continue to identify as Anglican
even when their leaders have wandered away, and allows other faithful Anglicans to remain in fellowship with them. FCA is a fellowship of orthodox Anglicans and reform movement to help heal our denomination.
SH: I think it would be better to ask this the other way around. FCA is committed to helping people to stay and then support them if they, in conscience leave or are pushed out. This is not likely to be simple or straight forward. As we saw from our New Zealand brothers and sisters there were three different responses to their crisis. Some have left and lost titles and buildings, some have stayed but are in dispute and others are staying and without contention. In saying that we have to bear in mind that the New Zealand, US and Canadian churches have a much stronger national basis than we have in Australia where we are a federation of dioceses.
Ess: Where can people catch up on things they may have missed from the conference?
SH: The main papers will be available via EFAC Essentials…
RC: ...and the conference website www.afuture15.org.au has many of the workshop outlines for download, and will soon have links to the videos of the main sessions. Some FCA resources are found at www.fca-aus.org.au/resources/
Ess: Where can people continue the conversation about our Anglican future?
SH: Join an EFAC Branch in your city or state or start one.
RC: I want to encourage a grass roots movement where local Anglicans take the initiative (either under the EFAC or FCA banner, or something else) to consider what they need to do to secure a strong healthy Anglican future in their own location. Wouldn’t it be great if groups of Anglicans in every diocese got to talking and praying about the future, and what changes they needed to make, to ensure it was a positive vital one. Maybe it is the reader of this article who needs to take the initiative. FCA Australia and your local EFAC branch are ready to help. Perhaps we will run some local conferences, or even another national gathering, but it would be much better if we did it ourselves.
Ess: What and whom do you hope that conversation will include?
RC: I would love to see congregations, individuals, parishes and even dioceses, having conversations about recovering confidence in the gospel, confidence in our theological heritage, and confidence in our God to turn our church and nation around. I am praying that bishops, clergy and laity will embrace and develop these themes for themselves.
SH: The conference captured a sense of optimism about the future of the Anglican Church. Hopefully this will filter through and start to shape conversations at a diocesan level and beyond. This sense of optimism and hope is often missing from other gatherings and is absolutely essential if we are going to honestly address our many challenges in terms of ministry and mission.
Editorial - Speaking of the Future
- Written by: Ben Underwood
What happened at the AFC shouldn’t stay at the AFC.
This issue of Essentials seeks to capture some of the central themes of the recent Anglican Future Conference (AFC) held in Melbourne in March. We include here as feature articles edited versions of talks given at the AFC by Stephen Hale and Peter Adam. These two pieces give a sense of the burden of the conference: a concern for Anglican effectiveness in engaging with our society in evangelism, coupled with an interest in the ways that Australian Anglicans might imagine better alternatives to our current methods and structures, then plan humbly and change flexibly to meet the challenges of this historical moment. The decline of churches and the rise of a post-Christian West form a sombre backdrop in these articles. Stephen and Peter encourage us to see in the foreground the bright possibility of ministering the old gospel through changed or new means. Stephen suggests some practical and proximate ways ahead, and Peter digs into history to remind us that Anglicanism is always transitional: it has changed radically and can change again to overcome weaknesses and seize opportunities. Peter especially encourages us to trust that God will honour his Word, save his people and fulfill his ancient promises whatever the future holds.
I am pleased that we have a series of short reflections on the conference by some of those who were there. Their places of life and ministry vary widely, and they all offer distinctive observations arising from the conference. They remind us of the variety of delegates who were at the conference and the range of concerns which evangelical Anglicans have about our Anglican present and future. The conference was jointly hosted by EFAC Australia and The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) Australia, and first up in this issue we debrief the AFC in an interview with conference ringmasters Stephen Hale (EFAC Chair) and Richard Condie (FCA Chair). They pack a lot of comment into a small space, and appeal to us to continue to talk and think together, wherever we are, about our Anglican future. To this end, Essentials intends to publish more material from the conference in forthcoming issues, and we hope that in these pages you might find a place where the conversation about these matters continues in an insightful, useful and encouraging way, galvanising our faithful, hopeful, joyful and (may it please God) indomitable service of the one for whom we live, and who lives and works in us, Jesus our Lord and Saviour.
P.S. Don’t miss Kanishka’s Bible study from 2 Peter 1, and his moving account of the singular protest against Nazi persecution of Jews led by Yorta Yorta man William Cooper in 1941. You’ll find it at the back, in The Caboose.
Ben Underwood Shenton Park, WA is Acting Editor of Essentials.
Book Review: Ezra & Nehemiah: Walking in God’s Words
- Written by: Wei-Han Kuan
Ezra & Nehemiah: Walking in God’s Words, Peter Adam (Aquila, 2014) ISBN 9781925041187
Why read Ezra & Nehemiah? Why read whole books of the Bible as they have come to us through history and tradition and the sovereign guiding hand of God? Why (as the Prayer Book enjoins us to do) read, mark, learn and inwardly digest all of the Scriptures – and not just our favourite selections?
This new book by Peter Adam gives us the answer. This book gives great help and encouragement. It does so all the way through the book, but it also starts as it intends to continue. In the six short pages of chapter one, Peter offers us brief but pointed, theologically-insightful and pastorally-helpful reasons for keeping on reading whole books of the Bible – like Ezra-Nehemiah. It’s a chapter well worth presenting again and again to maturing disciples as we encourage them to love - to read, mark, and learn - whole books of the Bible.
But perhaps we don't need all that much encouragement to get into Ezra & Nehemiah. Anyone who has been part of a church with a building programme has probably sat through a sermon series in these books – I know I have! The narrative is so rich in detail and interesting!:- benevolent Cyrus, returning exiles, the prayerful administratively-able leader, turning hearts and hands back to God, willing followers and co-workers, opposition and defensive tactics, the organised building plan. Its richness leads to the common temptation to preach these books as a kind of ‘how to’ manual and model. ‘How to successfully execute a church building programme’, or, ‘How to build a church wall – especially around the pesky youth group’.
What Peter does in this book is to examine all that rich detail, but within its richer historical and theological context. He thus drives our reflection, our appreciation and our ultimate application deeper in and further on. He does this consistently in every chapter, but let me highlight two in particular.
When I go shopping for a commentary one of the things I do is zero in on the troublesome passages. That’s often a litmus test for the quality of the rest of the commentary. How does this commentator deal with the difficult bits like the warning passages in Hebrews, the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2, anything in Revelation after chapter three? How does this book deal with the putting away of the Gentiles wives in Ezra 9-10?
Peter’s pastoral gifts come to the fore here. The relevant chapter of the book is entitled, ‘First Sins’, and there he highlights the significance of ‘first sins’ in the Bible, and, by implication, in us. Peter rightly calls the reader to develop our cross-cultural sensitivities. He notes that today we are particularly attuned against racism and towards individual choice in marriage. So to read Ezra & Nehemiah in our context means we need to work hard to understand their 6th century BC culture: in particular, the place of marriage in relation to corporate worship, religious syncretism and the corporate leadership of the people of God. Or, if you’re married today: what does your marriage have to do with church worship, with wholehearted devoted faith in Christ, and with your church’s leadership?
The Israelites put away their Gentile wives. How can that be right? What about the kids? Who paid their monthly maintenance? Peter’s handling of this tricky issue is considered, pastoral, biblically-informed, makes God the rightful hero of the narrative, set in the context of a deep concern for the honouring of both God’s Word and God’s people then and now, and gives the reader eminently helpful advice about marriage and holiness for today. All that packed succinctly into one chapter.
A second highlight revolves around a second tricky issue. How does Peter deal with Nehemiah’s repeated refrain at the end of the book for the Lord to remember him, and his deeds? Will Peter agree or disagree with Don Carson’s assessment that this marks Nehemiah – great and prayerful leader as he was – as ultimately still a person who didn’t get grace, and hence is another Old Testament pointer towards our need for the greatest leader and rescuer of all, the Lord Jesus?
What Peter does here is typical of him and his long ministry among us but sadly atypical among many Christians today. Peter reflects theologically and pastorally, within a robust biblical framework, on the repeated prayer. He draws our attention to additional evidence in Ezra & Nehemiah, in the minor prophets, indeed in the whole body of Scripture, Old and New Testaments. And then he drives it all home by applying his findings to our prayers and our relating to God today. This is very helpful stuff: for understanding the chapter, and for understanding how to work through difficult Bible passages.
The great achievement in this book, and indeed of the series itself, is that it condenses so much in so little. It does not aim to be a rigorously academic commentary, but this does not mean it lacks intellectual or theological clout. There’s a clear overview of the text, right attention to particular parts that need more detailed explanation, a firm focus on context and overall theme and purpose, informed and engaging theological reflection, and pastorally-helpful and challenging application.
It is not a simple thing to include so much value in such a small package. We should be grateful for this particular fruit of Peter’s labour – and take full advantage of it. It’s a valuable resource for when your church comes to this preaching series, full of solid food for preachers, every small group leader and every keen Bible reader.
Wei-Han Kuan is the State Director of CMS Victoria